2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference

March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH

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6/05/2017 | 3:00 PM - 3:15 PM | ARCTIC OASES? - HOW DOES THE DELAYED RELEASE OF WINTER DISCHARGE FROM AUFEIS AFFECT THE ECOSYSTEM STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF RIVERS | 301A

ARCTIC OASES? - HOW DOES THE DELAYED RELEASE OF WINTER DISCHARGE FROM AUFEIS AFFECT THE ECOSYSTEM STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF RIVERS

Aufeis are massive accumulations of ice found along many arctic rivers, with aufeis on some Alaskan rivers covering 20+ km2 and attaining thicknesses of 3+ m. Although aufeis are prominent landscape features, understanding of their ecology is poor. We propose that aufeis function as summer oases by providing meltwater and nutrients to downstream habitats and winter oases due to insulating layers of ice that maintain below-ground freshwater habitat that would otherwise be frozen in regions of continuous permafrost. To gain information about the ecological roles of aufeis, we installed 50 ~1-m deep wells in a ~1.5 km2 aufeis field along the Kuparuk River, an arctic tundra river in Alaska. We assessed the predictions that aufeis provide perennially-unfrozen, below-ground habitat for a specialized invertebrate community while functioning as hot spots for nutrient regeneration. Freshwater invertebrates sampled from the wells represent a rich community consisting of flatworms, annelids, copepods, ostracods, chironomids (Krenosmittia, Trichotanypus) and stoneflies. Although the potential for below-ground NH4+ and NO3- regeneration was indicated, analyses were complicated by a surprisingly strong and dynamic apparent coupling of surface and below-ground water.

C14 Hydroecology
C06 Large River Ecology
C28 Land-Water Interfaces

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Presenters/Authors

Alexander D. Huryn (), The University of Alabama, huryn@ua.edu;